Gelsedine was isolated in 1953 by Marion from Gelsemium Sempervirens. Wenkert elucidated the structure in 1962. The natural product displays cytotoxic activity against A431 cancer cells.

It was envisioned to synthesize Gelsedine in 13 straightforward steps.

This project focused on the first key step, a tandem cyclopropanation-divinylcyclopropane rearrangement. The cyclization successfully provided the desired cycloheptene in 4 linear synthetic steps in 16% overall yield.